Truckers Get Two-Year Deadline for Electronic Logging Devices

December 11, 2015 / By LaneAxis Staff

Loretta Chao | Wall Street Journal

Truck drivers will have to switch from paper records to tracking their driving electronically within two years under a new federal rule aimed at making roads safer by enforcing limits on the time drivers spend behind the wheel.

The timetable set Thursday put in motion a requirement that has divided segments of the trucking industry and added to debates in trucking over work rules and driver pay. Federal regulators say the electronic logging devices will help them police rules limiting how long drivers can remain on the road, restrictions aimed at preventing fatigue and accidents.

FMCSA Unveils Final ELD Rule

December 11, 2015 / By LaneAxis Staff

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is trying once again to craft a legally-sustainable electronic logging device (ELD) rule after several failed attempts in the past. The agency formally rolled out its long-awaited final rule mandating the use of ELD by commercial motor vehicle operators to record hours-of-service (HOS) data.

“Since 1938, complex, on-duty/off-duty logs for truck and bus drivers were made with pencil and paper, virtually impossible to verify,” noted U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement. “This automated technology [ELDs] not only brings logging records into the modern age, it also allows roadside safety inspectors to unmask violations of federal law that put lives at risk.”

Startups Accelerate Efforts to Reinvent Trucking Industry

Investors are pouring millions of dollars into startups hoping to disrupt the $700 billion trucking industry, the latest example of Silicon Valley’s efforts to upend the traditional economy.

A series of startups are vying to become an “Uber of trucking,” leveraging truck drivers’ smartphones to quickly connect them with nearby companies looking to ship goods. The upstarts aim to reinvent a fragmented U.S. trucking industry that has long relied on third-party brokers, essentially travel agents for trucking who connect truckers with customers.

Fleets Trying to Sell Event Recorder Safety Message to Drivers

September 28, 2015 / By LaneAxis Staff

Jeff Crissey | CCJ

Much ink has been spilled regarding the tanking public perception numbers of law enforcement agencies in the year since the highly publicized death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Cell phone footage from several other high-profile incidents since that time only have added fuel to the fire.

State and local police forces have been quick to adopt body cameras to capture first-person footage in the event a traffic stop or arrest escalates into violence. Taser, the nation’s largest manufacturer of police body cameras, reported sales in its body cam divisions up 288 percent in the first quarter of 2015 compared to first-quarter 2014.

Trucking Makes a Comeback, but Small Operations Miss Out

September 25, 2015 / By LaneAxis Staff

Loretta Chao | Wall Street Journal

A recovering U.S. economy is driving record demand for trucking. But many smaller operators, who make up the vast majority of the roughly 470,000 for-hire fleets on the road today, say they’re missing out on the boom.

The amount of freight hauled along the nation’s highways hit an all-time high earlier this year, fueled by improved retail sales and factory output. Trucking industry revenue has grown an average of 6.5% a year since 2009, topping $700 billion last year for the first time, according to the American Trucking Associations.

As a primer for some more in-depth reporting on FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program set to be published on CCJ later this month, here’s a look at the 10 states with the most hours-of-service violations:

All 10 states highlighted on the map above have enforcement programs that hit hours violations well above the 10 percent national average.

Top 10 States for Hours-of-Service Violations

September 14, 2015 / By LaneAxis Staff

As a primer for some more in-depth reporting on FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program set to be published on CCJ later this month, here’s a look at the 10 states with the most hours-of-service violations:

All 10 states highlighted on the map above have enforcement programs that hit hours violations well above the 10 percent national average.